The Beginning of the End
by Madame Fuentes
Summary: Joey Burgan is a regular teenager. But in the wrong time. Being born in war-torn America, he's forced to participate in something the government calls a "Civil". Parents put out their oldest child in a contest to get the "objective". Except no one knows what it is. Winners get fame and fortune, while the losers, poverty or death. It all depends. Credit to Tu Anh Nguyen.


"Son, get out here!" yelled my dad. Today is the day I have to leave. From 16 -18 you were put into teams of 6 every 2 years for the "Civil". You learn to survive, fight, and live with your team for 2 weeks. 2 teams fight to get to the "objective". The winners, fame and fortune; the losers, poverty. Lots of kids die during this, and I hope I'm not one of them.

"Joey, Get out here now!" father shouts again. I guess it's time for me to go on the bus where they ship us to the site where we meet our teams. My mom and dad are standing out on the porch waiting for me. "I love you darling", they both say to me.

They both look so sad, I guess it's a good but bad thing they only have one child. They might lose me and have no children but they don't have to live through it more than once. My dad hands me my pack; my clothes, a weapon, and a single kit lied within it, everything else is found at the team base.

I don't understand why we kids have to do this. The leaders say it's a compromise that they made with the world so that there would be no more wars, even though they're making us fight each other, which I consider as a huge one. An hour later, I'm already there. I knew the center was going to be huge, but it was more so when you see it yourself. There were so many people, so I just followed them.

Inside, a few minutes later a man starts to speak into the microphone. He looks ridiculous; balding head, a peacock headdress, and a barf green suit, clothes of the leaders. As he begins to announce the teams, I look around at my possible competitors. One guy is picking his nose, ew. Another girl is admiring a sword, obviously dangerous. I'm looking around when the leader says, "Team C-11; Charlie Jemasis, Alex Maham, Amasies Carmichael, Zachary Jorges, Martha Jorges, and Joey Burgan."

I walk up to the stage and look around at my teammates; 2 girls, 4 guys.

Alex looks too old to be in the civil with his nine o' clock shadow and built body, and his red, short cut hair, and grey eyes. His 6'3" stature makes him look out of place even more.

Charlie is just the opposite, with no facial hair, slick brown hair, a lanky, weak-looking body, brown eyes, and 5'7" height, he looks like a 14 year old.

The 18 year olds may look out of place, but the rest of the team looks normal, at least I think. Amasies looks like a regular 17 year old; with golden hair and a perfect nose, a slim and well-built body, and a 5'6" height.

Something about her devious smile and mischievous eyes make me think that she's a storm not to be reckoned with. Definitely not my type.

Zachary is the only one with glasses besides me, but he is much better looking, sort of looks like Alex but younger and with different traits; pale blue eyes match his chocolate brown hair, while his built body goes with the hair standing up in the front. Martha and I are the only 16 year olds on the team.

I'm pretty sure Martha and Zach are brother and sister, with Martha having the same, lean body, and facial structure as him, but she's shorter, standing tall at 5'6" and has sharp green eyes.

I'm bland compared to the rest of them; I have dark brown hair, hazel eyes, a "normal" body and with a 6' 1" height. As we walk to our table there is an awkward silence, then Charlie speaks up, "Um, why don't we introduce ourselves?"

"Be quiet, I'm the leader of this group!" shouts Alex.

"Umm, but I'm older than you, plus I got called first as leader…" replies quietly by Charlie.

"Why don't you guys co?" I say to them. They both stare up at me.

"I know your new to this kid, but there is only ever one leader got it?" says Alex. "We can always vote for our leader", says Amasies as she looks at me.

"Yeah, I elect Joey as our leader", says Zach. "Just what I was thinking", exclaims Amasies. Charlie and Alex quickly agree probably because they like Amasies. I started to panic. I was new to this! I didn't know what to do! But I didn't want to look bad to them.

"How about you sis, come' on don't be shy", asks Zach. So they are siblings. Martha looks at me and shrinks behind Zach.

"Um, if Zach wants him to be leader than okay…" whispers Martha.

"Come out from behind him, we are on your team," I say carefully to her. I watch as she comes out from behind Zach and stands next to him.

"Um okay, are we going to read the team papers now?" she asks. I notice a pile of papers and cards on the table, and say," Yeah I guess so." We all sit down and as I'm reaching for the papers, I realize I don't know where to start," What do we start with?"

"The partner cards are a good start," speaks out Amasies. "All right," I reply opening up a card.

"Zach and Amasies are partners". They high-five each other and talk about how they are going to make a great team. In the second card I read out load, "The eighteen year olds are to work together to succeed, which means Alex and Charlie are gonna be partners."

They look at each other in distain and groan. "That leaves me and Martha then." I look towards Martha and see that she is pale and nervous. "Um, Martha are you ok?" Then she turned beet red and embarrassed. "Joey can I talk to you?" says Zach.

I wonder what he wants.


End file.
